Search watoday:

Search in:

Deadline to last council elections nears

Leanne Nicholson

Residents and ratepayers have only hours left until the deadline expires to be part of the last Western Australian council elections as they currently exist.

Enrolments for this year's council elections on Saturday October 19 close at 5pm on Friday.

This year's local government elections will be the last time residents and ratepayers will be able to vote for councillors in their current municipalities after the state government announced it will amalgamate 30 metropolitan councils into 14 by July 2015.

Local government elections are held every two years and about 50 per cent of councillors vacate their seats or stand for re-election after their four-year terms expire.

Advertisement

This year all but one of Western Australia's 140 municipalities will have council vacancies.

The City of Canning will not hold elections this year due to the state government suspending the council and the appointing Linton Reynolds as its commissioner in November.

A Department of Local Government and Communities spokesperson said Mr Reynolds would remain the commissioner until the Minister for Local Government, Tony Simpson, considered a panel inquiry into the Canning council and whether councillors should be dismissed or reinstated.

Nominations for all other elected positions for metropolitan and regional councils open on September 5 and close at 4pm on September 12.

Postal voting will be available to residents and ratepayers in 76 municipalities, while the remaining 63 councils will hold elections "in person" or at the traditional polling booths.

The department spokesperson said voters would decide the outcome of 658 vacancies throughout the state.

Forty-eight of those vacancies have been left by the resignation or death of a councillor.

Acting Western Australian Electoral Commissioner Chris Avent said to be eligible to vote a person must be enrolled on the state electoral roll for a residence in that council district or own/occupy a rateable property within the municipality.

They must also be on the state or federal electoral rolls outside the local government district.

Land owners or corporate body members who own or occupy rateable property but are not enrolled on the state electoral roll for that ward or district may apply to the local council to be on the owners'/occupiers' roll.

4 comments

They should get on and amalgamate 100's of the rural shires as well. They were good when we had a horse and cart, no phones or internet. Then you needed a local hospital and police and shire every 50 miles.The services that these local dysfunctional s give is appalling.

Commenter

The Green Eye

Location

Rural WA

Date and time

August 30, 2013, 9:02AM

If you think amalgamating country shire will give you more State or Commonwealth funded services your dead wrong.If anything it will result in even more centralised control.,larger bureaucracies and less local representation.

Commenter

Jane

Date and time

August 30, 2013, 11:13AM

The services we have are fragmented and appalling. I for one don't mind if we have reduced services just so long as each service is provided professionally, we can then work from there.Also the degree of self interest amongst the councillors in rural locations is bordering on, if not, corruption.

Commenter

The Green Eye

Location

Rural WA

Date and time

August 30, 2013, 11:55AM

Rumour has it that Tony Simpson won't allow another Canning Council to be voted in by special election, if the current Council is eventually dismissed. He'll just keep Commissioner Reynolds, who is at the end of his career anyway, on as long as possible. If that does out to be the case, Simpson should walk away from politics altogether. Nothing but a brute.